Chord, once Qute2, is now the Qutest with latest DAC launched at CES 2018

Chord Electronics makes some of the most musical home, and portable DAC, and headphone amps I’ve heard, and when I got wind that the Qute2 was being replaced by a new Hugo2-ish form-factored DAC at CES 2018, I wanted to know more.

A little digging around the Internet, and I gathered that the Qutest is a stand alone DAC module that eschews a battery pack, and headphone amp in an effort to bring a more affordable top-tier sound (and smaller footprint) to a home high-fidelity setup, which at $1,650 USD (approx. MSRP) puts it firmly in the wheelhouse of budding audiophiles looking to make a serious upgrade to their computer-audio set up.

A formidable package.

With 768kHz PCM support via USB, DSD 512, and a 49,152 Tap-Length FPGA (field-programmable gate array) DAC, and featuring a pair of RCA analog outs, galvanically isolated USB-B, coaxial, and optical digital inputs along with Chord’s proprietary DAC technology pulled from the Hugo 2, the Qutest is machined from a solid aircraft-grade aluminium billet, and promises to be a sweet spot in Chord’s 2018 lineup.